Chapter 430: Forced Purchase and Sale
As for what California citizens think of the Congress in Washington, due to the current situation in California, Sheffield cannot conduct tracking and sampling as usual. It is a remarkable achievement to be able to ensure the normal publication of the Los Angeles Times.
As for Los Angeles Mayor Harden, he has begun calling on businesses to resume operations and support refugees in San Francisco with their own strength.
It is impossible to know the specific situation in San Francisco by relying solely on wireless telegrams, but this problem was immediately solved. As the slave owner's eyes, Jesla rushed back from San Francisco after learning that his boss had arrived in Los Angeles. Some things had to be discussed face to face.
"How serious is the situation in San Francisco! Have any industries recovered?" Sheffield asked in a very general way. The subtext was: Don't tell me how many people you killed on my behalf. This has never happened. They were all civil conflicts.
"Eh?" Jesla didn't respond immediately. After thinking for a while, he said, "The prostitution industry has been restored!"
"There's more, it's more important." Sheffield laughed, the Great West was not the territory of the Yankees. The New England region of the northeastern states was very disgusted with this kind of industry that was not worthy of being on the table. There was private flesh trade, but it was definitely not an industry.
However, after crossing the Mississippi River, especially in the states along the Pacific coast, the situation is completely different. Citizens of the Great West are not as particular as those in the New York metropolis. Those who dare to come to the West to explore are very cautious. For ordinary people, as long as it is not illegal, it means that it is a legal industry. For the braver pioneers, they specifically choose industries that are not allowed by law to accumulate their first pot of gold.
In the western states, prostitution only needs approval from the police department, and there are no such strict requirements as in the northeastern states.
The slave owner had learned from his number one thug that San Francisco had been severely damaged by the earthquake and arson, and the suburbs were crowded with victims. People from the United Company were distributing tents and food.
"If we start counting from the city center? Not even half of the city center?" Sheffield asked after hearing this. "San Francisco Shipyard?"
"I had time bombs set. When we entered, many factory buildings had collapsed and we didn't see any workers. I took special care of the dry dock, but there are no warships in the shipyard. The order for the San Francisco Shipyard has been completed, but the new ship has not started yet." Jesla explained the movements of the San Francisco Shipyard one by one.
"The dry dock was blown up. Good, very good." Sheffield praised generously. "I should have a good talk with the Frege brothers. I believe our meeting will be as smooth as the one with Hester."
The slave owners only knew that the San Francisco Shipyard was famous for a while, but they didn't know who it belonged to in history, nor how many owners it had. Just like many companies have been controlled by many people, who knows who will end up with this wealth? The founder of Coca-Cola is dead.
No matter who he is facing, Sheffield doesn't want to know who the shipyard belongs to now. He only hopes that the shipyard will belong to him in the future.
Coincidentally, after the earthquake, the Frege brothers quickly braved the risk of aftershocks and ran all the way from San Francisco to Los Angeles where it was relatively calm. It was obvious that they had a good understanding of the conditions in the United States and knew that as long as something unexpected happened, there would be riots. They were smart people.
It was good news that there was no need to search hard. Someone prepared the convoy, and Sheffield appeared in the Frege brothers' estate in Los Angeles. The low price in the Great West was not high, especially for the rich. The slave owner was not surprised at all, but the Frege brothers were very surprised by his arrival.
In terms of total assets, the brothers could not be compared with the slave owners. Shipbuilding was just a weak industry in the hands of the slave owners, but this was the entire wealth of the brothers. Moreover, even in shipbuilding, the profit of the Houston Shipyard exceeded that of the San Francisco Shipyard because a number of southern companies and citizens paid for it. As long as we don’t mention military ships, it can still be compared.
"We've never met before, but I've been to your shipyard and I know that the San Francisco Shipyard's building collapsed and the dry dock was severely damaged due to the earthquake. Let me tell you frankly, I can acquire most of the shipyard's shares and help you through the crisis. I only want a relative controlling stake and don't seek to kick you out. I believe this proposal is very reasonable." As soon as they met, Sheffield explained his purpose to the two brothers before he even had time to sit down. Except for replacing the time bomb with an earthquake, he told almost everything truthfully.
"This seems like taking advantage of someone's misfortune!" The threat was too obvious. The eldest of the Frege brothers, Alfrege, looked unhappy. No one could stand this kind of behavior. It was a bit too bullying.
"No need to say as if. According to the current environment, it is, not as if." Sheffield nodded, without any intention of deceiving. In recent years, as the scale of the United Company has grown, he, the slave owner, has become more and more honest. Some of his natures are too lazy to even pretend. "The shipyard is severely damaged, and the attitude of the federal government is unclear. Whether it will be rebuilt immediately is still unknown. There is news that the federal government plans to abandon San Francisco."
"Even if San Francisco is not abandoned, it will take time to heal the damage caused by this earthquake. It is definitely not something that can be solved in a year or two. Even if the reconstruction is fast, I can build my own shipyard next to San Francisco, offer higher wages, poach workers from your shipyard, use better equipment, and squeeze out your shipyard with lower prices. Why didn't I do that? I'm just giving you a chance."
"In the long-term acquisitions, the joint company rarely kicked the original legal person out of the management team. The Sheffield family believes that helping others is to strengthen themselves, so even if they see a good opportunity, they will not kill them all."
Sheffield almost had tears in his eyes when he said this. Was this him? How could he say such shameless words? "To be honest, with the strength of the two of you, it would take me at most a year to close down your shipyard. Many industries of the United Company are not very profitable, they are just used to provide jobs, so having one more shipyard is nothing."
The two brothers looked at the slave owner who was talking eloquently, from the analysis of the federal government to the comparison of assets to future development, as if he was sure of what he had done. They were very angry in their hearts and were so angry that they could not speak.
Because apart from anger, the two had no way to refute. Sheffield's words were just a series of truths, which were just used to intimidate the two of them.
As the younger brother, Dale Frege wanted to curse several times, but when he saw the pile of human-shaped sculptures behind the slave owner and the eyes behind the sunglasses were always on him, he finally did not dare to act rashly.
This was too much bullying, it was bullying to the extreme, because the slave owner was eloquent and used both soft and hard tactics to force the two people to submit. The other people in the house also came out and saw a group of uninvited guests. They thought they were gangsters who took advantage of the earthquake to rob and broke into their home.
"Is there anyone who can talk? I'm in a hurry." Sheffield took out his pocket watch and took a look, then said impatiently, "If you agree, then name a price and we can talk. If you don't agree, then just wait to be neighbors. I will definitely open a shipyard next to the San Francisco Shipyard, so that when you go bankrupt, I can annex some of your land."
"At least give me a price." Delfrege said this after being provoked by the reprimand.
"I can only promise that I won't lower the price because of the earthquake, but my two friends." Sheffield spoke to the two new friends in a friendly manner, no longer showing a sour face, "Since we have already made a verbal agreement, you must accept the acquisition. I hate people who lie the most. As for the acquisition price, we have professional financial experts who can make detailed calculations. The purpose of our joint company is to make us stronger through mergers and acquisitions. You should know that Mr. Candler, the owner of Coca-Cola, believes that his greatest success in life is to be acquired by me. Coincidentally, I think so too."
The main reason for agreeing was largely because the two brothers had their own information channels and knew that order in downtown San Francisco had been restored and that the team that came to provide disaster relief had played a big role.
Considering the current uncertain status of whether San Francisco will be rebuilt, Sheffield is actually taking a risk, but based on his understanding of Roosevelt himself, this risk can be said to be basically non-existent.
If the Frege brothers did not accept the olive branch offered by the owner, it would not be a cooperative attitude. Then, the slave owners would really be prepared to be neighbors with the San Francisco Shipyard.
Another reason why the Frege brothers agreed to the merger of most of their shares was that the Navy Department's orders had all been completed, but no orders were received during this period. In addition, the damage caused by this earthquake was so severe that it was still unknown whether the San Francisco Shipyard would be able to receive orders in the future.
After the situation stabilizes a little, the merger contract will be officially announced. Evelyn has already sent a telegram to prepare to come back. This matter can allow Evelyn to consult and improve the status of this wealthy woman who started out as a train conductor, worked hard step by step, and finally realized the American dream, and establish her status in the upper class of Los Angeles.
Natalia came with Evelyn. Knowing that her man would not be able to return in a short time, Natalia insisted on coming with her. Only Edith Rockefeller stayed at Edith's estate in New Orleans because she had to take care of congressional affairs.
“Three and a half million dollars, that’s about it.” Evelyn said with a somewhat disadvantaged expression, “The situation in San Francisco is uncertain right now, and we could have bargained down the price based on the area.”
(End of this chapter)
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